Episode Recap: Cook Islands, Week 3

Episode: Flirting and Frustration Original Air Date: Thursday, September 28, 2006 During the review of last week's episode, we find out what made Billy think that Candice is in love with him. At the end of the last challenge, Billy turns to the White tribe and says, "I'm next." Feeling sorry for Billy, Candice says, "We love you." Billy smiles and responds, "I love you." So Billy wasn't crazy, just hard-of-hearing. Day 7 - Cao Boi of the Asian tribe is still talking. He hasn't stopped since he got on the island. Brad reflects, "I have had a coming to Jesus in my own mind about Cao Boi - the guy just does not shut up. I don't think he's all there ... and don't think he will ever be there, unless he's medicated." All of the teams are called together and find out that's it's time for desegregation. Four people, two guys and two girls are chosen by lot to be team captains. These team captains are to choose teams. The women are to choose only women and the men, only men. Suddenly, flashbacks of being the last one chosen for softball at gym class are going through my mind. Cao Boi has the destinction of being chosen last. After the teams are chosen, Jeff hands an egg-like object to each of the team captains and tells them to squish it as hard as they can. This results in the team captains being splurted with red or blue dye. Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching Survivor or something on Nickelodeon. Jeff then tells them that the two red teams are to combine and become the new Aitu tribe while the two blue teams will combine and become the new Raro tribe. So there will be two tribes now. So this grand "social experiment" of splitting the teams up by race lasted an entire six days. Boy, I sure learned a lot from those two episodes. Sociologists and human behavior experts will be studying the data accumulated from that 2 hours of television for years to come. Nate of the new Aitu tribe is happy about the change. "It's like they took us out of the ghetto and took us to Bel Air." Members of the new Raro tribe start to bond as well. "You're not Asian," Cao Boi tells roller girl Jessica, "but I love you. I think you're awesome." Careful, Cao Boi. Those three little words are dangerous on these islands. Speaking of which, Cecilia tells Candice about Billy's claim of "love at first sight". "I have to ask you something. Don't be offended, but..." Everyone has a big laugh as a result. If I were Billy, I would have to go into hiding and change my name after this episode aired. Embarrassment City. Back at Aitu, Parvati decides her strategy will be to flirt with all the men. That should make her real popular with the other women. An opportunity opens up as once again, Nate's butt crack begins to peek over his pants. "Your pants are falling off, Nate," she says. "You're on top of everything," he replies. It's kind of hard not to notice. Meanwhile, an alliance forms on the Raro tribe. Becky and Yul, formerly of the Asian tribe, team up with Jonathan and Candice, formerly of the White tribe. They decide they need a fifth member, and Jonathan says he's confident he can get roller girl Jessica ("Flicka") to join. "I can get her to do anything we need her to do." But when Jonathan asks Flicka, she doesn't seem too excited about joining. She agrees to join, but confesses to the camera that she's not comfortable with it. "I'm just here to make friends... and, you know, just go as long as I can without feeling fake." It seems like there'd be a lot easier ways to make friends than getting stranded on an island with a bunch of half-naked people who are mostly concerned about how to vote you off so they can win a million dollars. But that's just me. In the mean time, because he 'trusts her', Yul confesses to Becky that he found the Immunity Idol while he was on Exile Island. He says he might even use it on her behalf at some point. Becky then repeats to Yul how she trusts him as well. It's funny how easily we trust people we think are cute. Later, Nate of the Aitu tribe kills a little octopus while spear-fishing. "I felt like the Mack!" he says. "That's a lot of meat," Parvati smiles as Nate, "You need it. I bet you could eat that whole thing yourself." This girl's about as subtle as a jackhammer. Finally, we get to this week's challenge which, surprisingly, isn't all that convoluted. Each team is placed at opposite ends of a large roped circle set in knee-deep water. Each team member is tied by rope to the rest of his or her team, and has to carry a satchel packed with fifteen pounds of sand. The point of the challenge is for both teams to race around the course until one team catches up to the other. The first tribe to tackle a member of another tribe wins. This challenge is much more difficult than it sounds because the teams have to race through knee-deep water. A tribe member can decide to quit at any time. However, he or she must then give his or her bag of sand to the nearest teammate to carry for the rest of the race. Shortly into the race, Aitu adopts a strategy of having all of their women drop out, leaving the team lighter and more agile ... at least in theory. It doesn't take long for Raro to gain on them. Raro drops some of its members and gains even more on Aitu. As Aitu closes in, Yul sees that trying to outrun them is hopeless and declares his intention to "just fight them". Alright! Rumble!! Yul, who is at the rear of his team and closest to Aitu, turns around to stand his ground. But his much weaker teammate, Cao Boi, is also targeted by Aitu and is quickly tackled. Aitu is declared the winner. As a result, Raro will be voting off one of their own at Tribal Council. This week's twist is that the winning team, Aitu, is able to choose a member of Raro to send to Exile Island. That means whomever they choose will be spared elimination at Tribal Council. Raro chooses Candice for exile, which completely torpedos the little alliance that had begun to form. Cao Boi, who seems to get along a lot better with non-Asians than with Asians, forms another alliance with Ozzy and all of the remaining women, except for Becky. They decide to vote for Becky. Even Flicka is convinced to go along. Yul takes Cao Boi to the side and seems to convince him to vote for Cecilia instead. Cao Boi then talks to Flicka about voting for Cecilia. All of this scheming is a bit too much for Flicka's little head to handle. It'll be interesting to see if Yul will be true to his word and step in with his Immunity Idol to keep Becky in the game. Tribal Council convenes and as everyone is shown casting their vote, it appears that it could go either way between Cecilia and Becky with Cao Boi and Flicka being the swing votes. Jeff reads off the votes. Cecilia is voted off. As the closing credits roll, we see that both Cao Boi and Flicka voted for Cecilia. Next week - Parvoti's upset that some team members aren't pulling their own weight around camp, while Cao Boi disturbs a bird's nest.